We had Minor-League Baseball last night for the first time in 595 days so it’s pretty exciting for all baseball fans and all of the cities that still have minor-league baseball but likely not as exciting as it is for all of the prospects who haven’t been able to play real games for that long.
Minor-league baseball is a HUGE part of every Major League Baseball team. Every team needs prospects to keep feeding the big club every year. That’s why it’s called a farm system. Every team is growing prospects every year to build the depth of their top program. They can build through the draft then use those prospects to acquire players they might need to strengthen the Major League club when they feel their team has reached contender status.
The Minnesota Twins need a healthy farm system because they won’t always be able to fill spots through free agency or via trade. If they have to acquire someone through a trade, that weakens their farm system. The Minnesota Twins Front Office has to beat other teams with how they develop their players so they can be perennial championship contenders.
Chief Baseball Officer has said they want to have waves of prospects on a yearly basis so they will always have prospects coming. We have yet to reach that stage but an almost 2-year hiatus for prospect development has had something to do with that for sure.
We expect the pitchers to start impacting the Twins soon although we heard in the last week that both of their top pitching prospects are battling injuries:
Jordan Balazovic is building up from a back injury at the start of ST and Jhoan Duran also had some trapezius tightness in camp, per farm director Alex Hassan.
Duran threw yesterday and is probably weeks away from being full go in a rotation. Balazovic a bit behind that.
— Do-Hyoung Park (@dohyoungpark) May 2, 2021
We will pay closer attention to the pitching as the Twins arguably have better pitching prospects than they have ever had before.
Leading Off
First things first. There were some big changes in Minor-League Baseball since the last time they played. It was completely re-organized as Major League Baseball took over control and with that they eliminated 40 teams so every team only has 4 teams instead of the 6 they had before. Rookie or Short-Season Leagues were eliminated so now there are only Triple-A, Double-A, High-A & Low-A leagues.
For the Minnesota Twins, it worked out pretty well as they were able to sign on the local & legendary St. Paul Saints as their Triple-A affiliate which will make moving guys up & down very easy since they are 10 minutes from Target Field*. Their former Triple-A affiliate, the Rochester Red Wings, had to find a new MLB team affiliate so the Washington Nationals are now their new parent club.
*How often might a Saints player play in a minor-league game then get called up to play in a Twins game later that night?
The Twins also had to move on from the Double-A Pensacola Blue Wahoos and they ended up affiliating with the new Wichita Wind Surge franchise. Pensacola joined with the Miami Marlins. The Twins were able to keep both of their Single-A level teams but they flip-flopped so the Cedar Rapids Kernels are now their High-A team and the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels, who changed from the Fort Myers Miracle before the 2020 season, are now their Low-A club. This works out nicely because the Twins minor-league & spring training facility is in Fort Myers at Hammond Stadium & the CenturyLink Sports Complex.
Let’s Play Some Minor-League Baseball
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels vs Braden Marauders
The Fort Myers Mighty Mussels got the ball flying first as their game started 30 minutes earlier than the other 3 teams. When we say they got the ball flying, we mean that literally because Minnesota Twins 2018 9th-round pick, OF Willie Joe Garry, Jr. (Dub-Jay-Gee (WJG)?) sent a 2-0 pitch out to right center field for his 1st home run of the season! Oh, we like that, Willie! How’s that for Mussels, huh?
Twins 2019 1st-round pick, SS Keoni Cavaco singled after that leadoff HR. A groundout advanced him to 2nd and a wild pitch advanced him to 3rd. The Mussels got a 1-out from Edouard Julien & a 2-out walk from Yunior Severino to load the bases but Will Holland popped out to 2nd to end the threat.
On came RHP Regi Grace to make the start for Fort Myers and he struck out the 1st batter then allowed a single but got a 4-3 inning-ending double play to end the 1st inning. Regi allowed a baserunner every inning but was getting out of it until the 4th when he allowed back-to-back extra-base hits, a William Mattheissen triple & an Endy Rodriguez double, to allow the Bradenton Marauders to tie the game at 1. Regi ended up being pulled in the 5th after striking out the first 2 batters for his 5th & 6th strikeouts of the game. He was at 75 pitches and we assume that was they reason he was pulled being the 1st game and all.
St. Paul, MN native LHP Louie Varland, who also attended Concordia College, replaced Grace and he struck out the next batter to get the Mussels through the 5th with the game still tied at 1.
Since the walk that loaded the bases in the 1st, the Mussels didn’t have a baserunner until an Edouard Julien 2-out double (1) in the 6th as 15 Mussels were set down in a row by the Marauders. Julien was left on base to end the top of the 6th. In the bottom of the 6th, Louie Varland set down the Marauders 1-2-3 on 10 pitches on 2 strikeouts & a groundout back to the pitcher.
Mussels 3B Will Holland got a 1-out walk then stole 2nd base (1) and advanced to 3rd on a pickoff attempt. The Mussels used their walking muscles to walk in a run courtesy of walks from Charles Mack, Willie Joe Garry, Jr & Keoni Cavaco to take a 2-1 lead but they left the bases loaded when 2020 1st-round pick 1B Aaron Sabato struck out to end the top of the 7th. Go ahead & stretch, boys!
Well, maybe they shouldn’t have stretched because Varland walked Jase Bowen with 1 out then struck out Norkis Marcos for the 2nd out but gave up a 2-run HR and the 1-run lead to Alexander Mojica before striking out Sammy Siani to end the 7th. Marauders lead 3-2
Both pitchers, Marauders RHP Alex Aquino & Mussels RHP Louie Varland, struck out the side in the 8th. Varland gave up a leadoff single 1st, though. On to the 9th for the Mussels and they had to face Marauders RHP Oliver Mateo to try to tie the game.
Will Holland led off the 9th with a groundball through the left side for a double (1) then Charles Mack walked and was pinch-run for by Daniel Ozoria. Jefferson Morales pinch-hit for Leobaldo Cabrera and he struck out swinging. Mateo intentionally walked Willie Joe Garry, Jr to load the bases then threw a wild pitch to allow Will Holland to score & tie the game at 3. Keoni Cavaco then walked on a wild pitch that put the Mussels in front 4-3. Sabato struck out as Cavaco stole 2nd base (1) then Edouard Julien hit a 2-run single to put the Mussels up 6-3 before a flyout ended the top of the 9th.
Louie Varland stayed in the game to pitch the 9th. He struck out the 1st 2 batters swinging and got a flyout to center field to finish off his 1st professional win and the Twins Minor League Teams were off!
Final Score
Fort Myers Mighty Mussels 6, Braden Marauders 3
Omaha Storm Chasers vs St. Paul Saints
It’s the first game for the St. Paul Saints as the Triple-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins. It should be the start of a beautiful relationship between two great Minnesota franchises.
Unfortunately, it didn’t start out very well. LHP Andrew Albers made the start and the leadoff hitter tripled then came home on a sacrifice fly. Albers limited the damage to just the one run in the 1st by striking out 2. In the bottom of the 2nd, the leadoff hitter tripled again but this time, not only did that runner score but 3 more did, too, after a hit by pitch, a single & a groundout had runners on 1st & 3rd, Edward Olivares—who hit the triple to leadoff the game—homered to left field & the Chasers were leading 5-0.
In the bottom of the 3rd (Ryan McBroom) & the 4th (Anderson Miller), the leadoff hitter homered. Albers got out of both of those innings allowing just the 1 run and he was at 87 pitches after the 4th so that was his night. Not the start he was looking for, for his team & for himself. RHP Glenn Sparkman took over for the 5th and he struck out the leadoff batter looking but…the next batter, Gabriel Cancel, homered (1) to make it 8-0. Sparkman struck out the next batter and got a groundout to end the 5th then he struck out the side (2 looking, 1 swinging) in the 6th before being relieved by LHP Andrew Vazquez to begin the 7th.
The Saints had a walk (Trevor Larnach) & a single (Ryan Jeffers) through the 1st 4.2 innings then got a single (Zander Wiel) & a walk (Keon Broxton) but Tzu-Wei Lin struck out to end the threat. They then went down 1-2-3 in the 6th but got a leadoff double (1) from Travis Blankenhorn followed by a 2-run HR (1) from Ryan Jeffers. Zander Wiel got his 2nd hit of the game with a 1-out single but Broxton & Lin struck out but, hey, Ryan Jeffers was responsible for the 1st Triple-A runs (& HR) for the Saint Paul Saints and that’s pretty cool.
Andrew Vazquez threw 20 of 27 pitches for strikes as he set down all 6 Storm Chasers in 2 perfect innings and he struck out 3 (2 swinging & 1 looking.)
The Saints got a 2-out double (1) from JT Riddle in the top of the 9th but Wiel struck out to end the game.
Final Score
Omaha Storm Chasers 8, St. Paul Saints 2
W-Kowar (1-0) L-Albers (0-1)
HR:
OMA: Olivares (1) McBroom (1) Cancel (1)
STP: Jeffers (1)
3B:
OMA: Olivares (1) Gutierrez (1)
STP: None
2B
OMA: Gutierrez (1)
STP: Blankenhorn (1) Riddle (1)
Pitching:
OMA:
RHP Jackson Kowar: 5.1IP 2H 0R/ER 2BB 9K 1 Win
LHP Jake Kalish: 2.2IP 3H 2R/ER 0BB 4K 1HR
RHP Andres Sotillet: 1IP 1H 2K
STP:
LHP Andrew Albers: 4IP 8H 7R/ER 0BB 6K 3HR 1 Loss
RHP Glenn Sparkman: 2IP 1H 1R/ER 5K 1HR
LHP Andrew Vazquez: 2IP 5K
Wichita Wind Surge vs Springfield Cardinals
Another new team for the Minnesota Twins and their fans as the Wichita Wind Surge played their very first game as a franchise and as the Double-A affiliate for Minnesota & this looks like it was a pretty good game.
CF Gilberto Celestino, the Twins #8 Prospect, singled for the 1st hit of the Wichita Wind Surge’s existence. Jose Miranda got a 1-out walk but there was no surge for runs in the first. 2018 7th-round pick RHP Josh Winder made the start for Wichita and he allowed a leadoff single to start the game, off the bat of Delvin Perez, but he was thrown out at 2nd. We’re not sure how this happened as it just says it was on a groundball to 3rd. Maybe it was an overthrow on an infield single but 1B Andrew Bechtold was able to corral it right away & still get the runner trying to advance. Anyways, it was an out. The next batter walked then Winder got a groundout & a strikeout to end the 1st inning.
Wichita RF Jimmy Kerrigan hit a 1-out triple (1) in the top of the 2nd but David Banuelos & Aaron Whitefield both struck out swinging & in the bottom of the 2nd, Springfield LF Nick Plummer got a 2-out single but was caught stealing by Wichita C David Banuelos to end the 2nd.
This game was a duel of pitching & defense & Wichita did it better. The Wind Surge got out of the 2nd & 4th inning by throwing out a baserunner trying to steal & in the 1st, 3rd & 5th, they struck out 1, 2 & 1. Then, in the bottom of the 7th, they threw out a runner at home with an outfield assist from LF Aaron Whitefield.
That big defensive play may have gotten their adrenaline running because they got back-to-back 1-out singles from Derek Tomscha & Jose Miranda then got back-to-back 2-out singles from Mark Contreras & Andrew Bechtold to go up 2-0.
Then Wichita RHPs Tom Hackimer & Yennier Cano took care of the 8th & the 9th to win the first game for the Wichita Wind Surge by striking out 2 in both innings. Hackimer got the 1st win & Cano got the 1st save.
Final Score
Wichita Wind Surge 2, Springfield Cardinals 0
W-Hackimer (1-0) L-Roach (0-1) S-Cano (1)
HR:
None
3B:
WCH: Kerrigan (1)
SPR: None
2B
WCH: Palacios (1) Whitefield (1)
SPR: Yepez (1)
Pitching:
WCH:
RHP Josh Winder: 4.2IP 5H 0R/ER 0BB 6K
LHP Jovani Moran: 1.1IP 3K
RHP Tom Hackimer: 2IP 2H 3K 1 Win
RHP Yennier Cano: 1IP 2K 1 Save
Players of the Game:
Aaron Whitefield: 2 hits, 2B & on OF Assist to keep the game scoreless in the bottom of the 7th
Mark Contreras: Game-Winning RBI-single in 8th
Pitchers of the Game:
All Wichita pitchers for the shutout
If I have to pick one, LHP Jovani Moran with 3K & no hits over 1.1 innings on 18 pitches (11 strikes)
He’s one to watch
Cedar Rapids Kernels vs Peoria Chiefs
The Kernels came out swinging the bats as they sent everyone to the plate in the bottom of the 1st inning* and it started with a Spencer Steer leadoff single. Seth Gray struck out looking but Matt Walner & Jair Camargo hit back-to-back doubles to score Steer & Walner and then Gabe Snyder hit a triple to score Carmargo. Wander Javier struck out swinging. Deshawn Kersey was hit by a pitch & Trey Cabbage walked but Gabriel Maciel struck out swinging to end the 1st but hey, 3-0 is a nice way to start a game and your season.
*Was it Oprah night? You get a plate appearance! You get a plate appearance! You get a plate appearance!
That meant Spencer Steer led off the 2nd inning, too, and this time, he walked to get on base and then scored on Seth Gray’s double (1) to right field. A wild pitch from Peoria reliever RHP Wilfredo Pereira allowed Gray to advance to 3rd and another wild pitch allowed Gray to score to put the Kernels up 5-0.
In the bottom of the 3rd, Spencer Steer didn’t lead off but he hit a 2-out single with Gabriel Maciel (single) on. Maciel advanced to 3rd on the play then the Kernels executed a double steal with Steer stealing 2nd (1) & Maciel stealing home (1) to add another run for the Kernels and make it 6-0.
Cody Funderburk started the game for Cedar Rapids and he allowed just 1 hit, a 1-out single to Malcom Nunez in the 2nd that he followed with an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play. He allowed 2 walks but struck out 2 as well. He was pulled for RHP Andrew Cabezas to begin the 4th and Cabezas started his night by setting the Chiefs down 1-2-3 on a lineout, a flyout and a groundout on just 8 pitches. The Kernels bats drew 4 straight 1-out walks in the bottom of the 4th to increase their lead to 7-0.
The pitching took over for the rest of this game. From the 5th inning to the end of the game, only 7 players reached base and that’s for both teams. 1 was hit by a pitch, 4 were on walks and 2 were singles.
Final Score
Cedar Rapids Kernels 7, Peoria Chiefs 0
W-Cabezas (1-0) L-Bedell (0-1)
HR:
None
3B:
CR: Snyder (1)
2B
CR: Walner (1) Camargo (1) Gray (1)
Pitching:
CR:
LHP Cody Funderburk: 3IP 1H 0R/ER 2BB 2K
RHP Andrew Cabezas: 4IP 1H 0R/ER 2BB 2K 1 Win
RHP Melvi Acosta: 2IP 1H 0R/ER 1BB 2K
Our Player of the Day:
Cedar Rapids Kernels SS Spencer Steer with 2 singles, 2 runs, a walk and a stolen base, leadoff single & leadoff walk started the 1st & 2nd innings and helped the Kernels get started on the right track.
Honorable Mention:
Willie Joe Garry, Jr leading off the Twins Farm System Minor-League Season with a Home Run!
Our Pitcher of the Day:
RHP Louie Varland: 4.1IP 2H 2R/ER 1BB 10K 1HR 1 Win
Honorable Mention:
LHP Jovani Moran: 1.1IP 3K
Thank You for reading our TwinsTakes! We’d love to hear your TwinsTakes!
So, hit us up on Twitter, Instagram and/or Facebook!!!
That’s why it’s…
